Power distribution units (PDUs) are elongated devices equipped with multiple electrical outlets for distributing power to racks of computers and networking equipment. Rack mounted strips facilitate power filtering, intelligent load balancing, and remote monitoring and control via local area network (LAN) or simple network management protocols (SNMPs).
In a typical server rack installation, a vertically oriented PDU is disposed along a side edge of the rack, with power to the PDU provided through a power cord extending from an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). As the component density of server installations and data centers increases, these power cords present increasing logistical complexity to the network manager, both from the standpoint of initial installation as well as component replacement. Moreover, the resulting cable connections can be visually unpleasing and cumbersome.
A system is thus needed which overcomes these and other shortcomings associated with prior art server rack power distribution techniques.